RIFT — SEGMENT 01

Chapter 28.1

~

Rift

~

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

===================   B E G I N  ===================

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

 

The prison was silent. All three of the Poke’mon standing there couldn’t bring themselves to say a word.

 

No, they only stood.

 

Eyes slowly glancing to one another as the atmosphere became heavy. The silence seemed to just…drag on and on…and on. Only the crackle of torches broke the silence.

 

Jolvia kept a stoic and strong expression, folding her arms over her chest as nothing was said…but offered no words of her own.

 

Janus, for her part, leaned on the bars, her brow knitted grimly. Her eyes carried a deep weight in them, her face contemplative now that the secret was out to Avery.

 

But still nobody said anything. For a long time it was nothing but…silence.

 

Finally, Janus made the first move.

 

“This isn’t really like you, I.O.” Janus muttered, almost sneering at Jolvia. The Nidorina kept her gaze steely. “You’re a calculated woman, when did you start trading secrets like teahouse gossip? Is your commander aware of what you’re doing?”

 

“He is. I cleared this with him first.” Jolvia replied at once. “I’ve not divulged willy-nilly before and I don’t plan on doing so now.”

 

Janus glanced down at Avery, seeing his miserable expression as he sat on the cold stone. She looked as though she wanted to make a snide remark but kept it to herself.

 

All the while Avery was silent. He felt Janus’s eyes on him, but he didn’t look up to face her. He didn’t look up to face Jolvia. He just stared down at the floor, ears sunk backwards.

 

He didn’t want to know this. He didn’t.

 

‘Why did she say that? Why didn’t she just keep her mouth shut? Why wouldn’t she just let me pretend like she wasn’t biased?

 

Like she was the only person that wasn’t biased?’

 

Avery’s mouth opened and closed a few times, hesitant shaky breaths snaking in and out of him with each inhale. And with each exhale his arms curled around himself, tighter.

 

He knew he wasn’t doing well. He knew he didn’t even look close to seeming like he was doing well. But he had to say something, right?

 

They were… They were both waiting for him.

 

“…why?” Avery said finally, tearing his eyes away from the ground to look up at Jolvia. He wanted to leave it there. He didn’t feel like he had the energy to clarify. But…if he didn’t she might answer the wrong question. “…Why…why tell me…?”

 

Jolvia frowned and her face softened. Janus sniffed, turning away, walking further in her cell as though to respectfully ignore what was about to be said.

 

“Why…?” Jolvia almost looked…surprised, somewhat. Not that the question was unfounded, she seemed surprised that it’d be his first.

 

Janus coughed, folded her arms, looking out the barred window.

 

“There were many reasons. If you wish for the cynical, pragmatic reason: Your nature as a third party, being unaffiliated with any nationality, as well as your strength and strange natural fighting aptitude…it all made you possibly invaluable as someone to work with. You display very little specific loyalty to individuals or groups, opting instead to follow a personal moral code. Then you being in the guild via conduit fast-tracking puts you in the center of one of the most powerful organizations in the country. Thus, it would behoove me and the Santurini guild to divulge, in part, the nature of our goals and work, up to and including what I’m authorized to divulge.”

 

Janus perked up, turning her head slightly. Her stare toward Jolvia looked…cold.

 

Jolvia huffed, looking down at Avery.

 

“If you want the personal, more sentimental reason? I couldn’t, in good faith, be your friend while also so bold-facedly lying to you.” She said at last, clenching her fists. “I keep subjects at an arm’s length…but not friends.”

 

All presented so…bluntly. Like bulletpoints on a sheet of paper.

 

Janus sighed, shaking her head, waiting for the two to finish.

 

“I-I just…I thought…” Avery looked down, raking a paw through his fur.

 

‘What should I say? What could I say? Janus was right there. And she was going to scoff at me. Call me weak. Hate me, no matter what I said. Because I was guild. Because I wasn’t on her side. Because I wasn’t…Santurini. Whatever that meant.’

 

“…I thought you…I thought you got it. I-I thought you…I thought you understood that…that…”

 

Even the thought in his head, incomplete as it was, felt horrible to think. Avery knew why she told him. He knew that she didn’t feel comfortable lying to him. Even if she was being calculated about it, as calculated as she was about everything, Avery knew she thought of him as a friend.

 

Or…he thought so. At this point he didn’t care.

 

“I figured it out. I figured out…something like this out early on, I just…I didn’t want to think about it. I-I didn’t want to know, I…”

 

Worse. Felt worse. This felt so much worse.

 

“…Now I know. Now I know a hundred percent, and…”

 

‘Ha. I was invaluable to work with. An unaligned third party, close to the conduit. Something for the Santurini Guild to use. That was why her commanding officer approved this, no doubt. Because I was a patsy. I was a tool.

 

Could Jolvia keep being my friend like this?’

 

Janus looked back, cocking an eyebrow as she listened. Jolvia pinched between her eyes, her brow knitted in thought.

 

“I did understand, Avery.” Jolvia sighed softly, her voice sympathetic…but firm. “You wanted someone you could just be friends with…someone who had no side, no stake in all of this. This is me coming clean…I can’t be that for you. Not to the extent you want.”

 

She shook her head.

 

“I do still want to be your friend, but you see the conflict of interest here. Being so close to you while you have no idea of my affiliations…it’s simply dishonest.”

 

Janus’s expression softened as she approached the bars again.

 

“And it’s likely…” Jolvia continued. “…that nobody can really be that for you. The troubles Arcea face aren’t a shadow war that only concern a handful of Poke’mon…they’re issues that touch upon everyone, from every country, young and old. Everyone is embroiled in this.”

 

Avery felt his breath catch at that, a pang in his heart making his chest ache.

 

‘…Nobody can be that for me. Nobody can be that for me. Nobody. Nobody can. Nobody could. Everyone here was involved. Everyone had roots. Everyone had alliances. Everyone had a side, absolutely everyone I’d ever talk to would have a side, have somewhere to pull me, some agenda to bring me to. Everyone had a home, everyone had a cause to fight for, everyone had a loyalty.

 

Except for me.’

 

Avery tugged his ears down so hard it almost felt like he could tear them off. Tears sprung at the corners of his eyes, but he blinked them back. He couldn’t cry. He couldn’t lose it. Not in the dungeons. Not in front of Janus, not in front of Jolvia.

 

‘And Jolvia got it. She did understand. She knew, and…and she couldn’t handle pretending. I can understand that. I don’t like it. I don’t want it. But I can understand it. But…she has to know what those words mean. What she’s saying…she has to know. She has to know what it’d do to me.’

 

After a pause, Jolvia continued.

 

“Look…Avery, I’m sorry, I am. This is just how things are.” The Nodrina said, the Plusle feeling another stab in his heart. “It’s-“

 

“Hey.” Janus’s voice cut in before Jolvia could continue, making the Nidorina glance over. The Pikachu took a long, hard look at the both of them, letting her arms drape on the iron cross-beam of the bars.

 

“Just let the kid rest for a bit, I.O.” Janus said, firmly.

 

“Huh…?”

 

“Just. Let. Him. Rest.” She said, glancing over at Avery with a soft expression. “Nobody can shoulder constant, ceaseless burden, seriously.”

 

“Nobody should, but many still must.” Jolvia said firmly with a hum.

 

“Look, I know many Poke’mon don’t get to choose when they do and don’t fight. Many are just…thrown into the deep end day in and day out…” Janus sighed. “…like a sweet Mawile girl suddenly made the centerpiece of the latest scandal between NAM and the Illaminian population. She never asked for that, nor deserved it, but here she is now…”

 

Jolvia was silent, looking at Avery.

 

“…but…maybe just…give it a rest tonight.”

 

“Janus…” Jolvia muttered, seemingly caught off guard for the second time in a row. She offered little rebuttal.

 

“We all may have our thoughts on this and that…” Janus spoke softly. “…but I’m not of any mind to pull anyone to this side or that side, or convincing anyone to do this or that or the other…Poke’mon’ll always do what they think is the right thing. S’all I did.”

 

Jolvia was quiet. Janus smiled.

 

…Avery was surprised to hear Janus butt in. Janus, of all Poke’mon. The one who’d been treating him more and more like an enemy each time he’d came back here. The one who was glaring at him, sneering at him no less than thirty seconds ago.

 

“…But…there is no rest, is there?” Avery’s voice wavered like a leaf in a hurricane. “…There’s never…never…never ever any rest. Not for me. Not for the Hero of…of fucking Arceus.”

 

He was doing a worse job of holding back the tears now.

 

“…That’s why your commander let you say this to me, isn’t it? Because I’m a third party? Because…because they could use me…? It’s all just…it’s all…”

 

‘I can’t rest. I can never rest.’

 

Jolvia and Janus both frowned, watching the Plusle…fall apart. The Pikachu shook her head, glaring at Jolvia.

 

“Look what you did now. You and that commander of yours.” Janus growled. Jolvia’s crimson eyes returned fire at the Pikachu.

 

The two stared silently at one another for a while, the Pikachu running a hand down her face, deeply sighing.

 

“So…everything he’s been saying is true, then?” Janus asked. “All that stuff about ‘not being from here’ and ‘not knowing anything’? All that wasn’t some psyche-out to grill me for info?”

 

“I can confirm it to be true, and my C.O agrees.” Jolvia answered, her folded arms tightening.

 

“Then why in the world are he and you trying so hard to get Avery’s sympathy, Jolvia…?” Janus asked, looking pitifully down at the Plusle as he covered his face with his ears. “Look at him. He doesn’t want any part of any of this anymore…why’re you trying to embroil him deeper in all of this…?”

 

“Janus, if that were all I was out to do I’d be going for…Nivanee, say. Kipuuna. Not a rookie of two weeks…” Jolvia retorted, glancing down at Avery. “I feel for him…the deceit isn’t fair to him when he’s barely even a willing participant…”

 

“What are you saying?”

 

Jolvia didn’t answer Janus for a while. She only looked down at Avery for a while, sadly crouching down beside him.

 

“I don’t really have much mind for what my C.O wants, Avery…” The Nidorina admitted. “But the way that you’ve been so thrust into all this…pulled from thin air and made to fight for causes you don’t understand, people you barely know and for reasons you’re never told…it’s disgusting. My C.O may see you as an asset to be won over but I disagree. I could never see you that way. I only see a victim…”

 

“Jolvia…” Janus sighed, the Nidorina glancing over at her.

 

“This isn’t fair to you, Avery. It isn’t fair that this…” Jolvia gestured to herself. “…this is going to just keep happening…and happening. On and on, pulling you in deeper…being in the guild means everyone wants you as their ally…because very few would ever see you as a person before they see you as Arceali Guild…”

 

Janus…seemed to shrink as she heard that, a sympathetic look in her eye. Jolvia turned her head to face her.

 

“You’d know what that’s like…I’m sure, Janus.”

 

The Pikachu nodded slowly, stepping closer.

 

“So we’re on the same page about this now, Janus…?” Jolvia ask.

 

“I think so…” Janus sighed, pushing her cheek against the bars. “…I still stand by what I said when we fought, Avery…and hearing all of this really just confirms it…”

 

They were quiet a moment…Janus nodded to the Nidorina as though to let her proceed.

 

“…we don’t want you on our side.” Jolvia said at last. “We don’t want you on the guild’s side…or anyone’s side…we just want you out of all this. You don’t deserve to be caught up in this.”

 

“It’s all more…complex than that, isn’t it?” Avery said quietly. “…I care about Vizon. And Nivanee. And Lahnae and Loshjno and Kipuuna and Ganisus and Kellixae and Sekura and you two. I can’t…I can’t just leave. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself knowing that I was making all those people worry. And if your C.O. thinks I’m a human too, then that means…I guess the rest of the Thieves Guild feels that way. Illaminamo’s in drought, and I don’t know the first thing about Quayoffi. The only way that I could be out of all this is to run away. And…I can’t do that.”

 

‘Deep breaths. Deep, shuddering breaths.’

 

“…It’d be worse than starting over. It’d be worse than when I first got here. Because I’d know exactly what I was leaving behind, and…what I could never come back to. And…and my friends, it’d…it’d break them. Lahnae, Vizon, Nivanee-“

 

‘Nivanee had gone through it once already, and it had…affected her. If I went too…I can’t imagine how much worse it would be.

 

And deeper down…I want to believe that I can still be friends with them. Still…save them maybe. That might be a naive thing to think, but…I care about them too much to let them go. I can’t, not right now.’

 

“No…no, Avery, you really do not understand…” Janus said, her voice understanding…but firm. “It’s not just more complicated…none of the guild members have a choice but to be embroiled in this. Not Nivanee…nor Kipuuna…nor I. We’ve all gone past the point of no return and we don’t have a choice.”

 

Jolvia heaved a sigh, covering her mouth and looking away.

 

“This journey you’re so dedicated to isn’t one that’s going to take you where you want to go. I don’t know what you think will happen, but this is more…so much larger than leaving a group of friends or upsetting a few Poke’mon in a friends club.”

 

Janus paused…and heaved a breath. A long, shuddering breath.

 

“There’s only two possibilities at the end of my road.” Janus said at last. “Either I fail and hang alone before an Arcean court…or I succeed and I hang with the whole rest of the Arceali Guild before a Quayoffi tribunal.”

 

“Janus…” Jolvia muttered. The Pikachu looked at Avery gravely, seriously.

 

“Avery…” Janus said, her voice low. “…get out while you still have a choice.”

 

…Something shattered.

 

Something in the back of Avery’s head splintered like a thin sheet of glass meeting a rock head on.

 

“… No,” he whispered. “…No, that’s not…That can’t be…that can’t be all there is… I can’t…”

 

‘Vizon. Nivanee. Lahnae. Kipuuna. Everyone…hanging? Executed? That… That can’t be what was at stake. I refuse to believe that, I have to defy that-‘

 

Sobs strong enough to cause Avery to nearly convulse wracked his body. His throat was bunched up so hard he couldn’t breathe.

 

‘Deep breaths. Shallow breaths. Any breaths.

 

They can’t die. They can’t die. They won’t die. I won’t abandon them. Nobody has to die. Nobody has to die-‘

 

Janus watched Avery for a long time.

 

Jolvia shift uncomfortably. The both of them seemed…unsure what to say next.

 

Janus simply…pushed from the bars, stepping deeper into the shadows of her cell. She was silent, her back to Avery and Jolvia…staring out the barred window.

 

Jolvia watched her, equally silent, as Avery took labored breaths. The Pikachu only…stood…stood in deep thought…

 

…a deep thought she’d no doubt been in for seven long years.

 

Until she finally looked back.

 

“There’s no saving us, Avery. I’m sorry…but thanks for caring.” She said, a small…sad smile on her face. “I suggest you get in with another crowd…but you know me…I won’t tell you your business. I can only suggest.”

 

She stepped in further on, the torchlight no longer reaching her as she seemed to bleed into the shadow.

 

 

“Do what you gotta do…”

 

Avery could utter no reply, his breath caught in his throat.

 

‘It can’t be true. It can’t be true. It can’t be true.’

 

Avery bit his arm to keep his anguished moans from reaching into the rest of the dungeon. He bit hard. He bit hard.

 

Moments passed. The pain faded in his arm. He couldn’t tell if he was breathing anymore. His eyes were squinted shut, though he didn’t feel that either.

 

He was just…in an inky black void of despair. It choked at him, starting its assault by crushing his ribcage and crawling up his throat to suffocate him. And for a moment that was all there was. Void and despair.

 

But…for a fleeting moment Avery felt something else.

 

Something glimmering there in the sludgy slurry of anguish. For a fleeting moment Avery felt something swimming through it.

 

Something red hot. Something angry.

 

Avery tried to grab a hold of it – feeling anger was better than this…but it faded from his grasp. It was still there. He could feel it. But…he didn’t know what it was yet.

 

Even so…

 

‘No.

 

No.

 

Even if it was only in my mind…that word felt right to say.

 

It can’t be true.

 

…

 

Deep breaths. In… Out. In…and out.’

 

And he was back. Trembling, shivering, with a soaked face and an arm crying out in protest. A heavy heart and a clenched throat.

 

…But there was something else there now. And even if he didn’t know exactly what it was…it was there. And he would need it.

 

“Avery…” Jolvia whispered, kneeling down by him, concerned. She didn’t touch the Plusle, only crouching there, her crimson eyes occasionally flicking towards the cell.

 

Janus was silent. Couldn’t even be seen anymore.

 

The Nidorina sighed, wiping down her face…but said nothing yet. She only let Avery cry, let him…feel what he needed. She looked lost…as though she had lost track of his feelings.

 

No more wise, knowing words.

 

She was just…another one.

 

‘…She thinks they’re all going to die too, doesn’t she? Jolvia thinks that everyone is going to hang one way or the other.

 

…’

 

Shakily, Avery braced himself against the dungeon wall. His body was still refusing to entirely cooperate with him. He still jolted every so often from hitched breaths. He still sniffled, having to wipe at him eyes with his bitten arm. He still stood on legs that didn’t fully support him.

 

Avery looked up at Jolvia. He looked at her expression.

 

She didn’t know anymore. She’d been ripped from her high horse, crashing down to the level of everyone else. Lost in the mire and the muck. Just like him.

 

…But that…wasn’t where it was going to end. That wasn’t where he was going to let it end.

 

Everyone thought he was special. Everyone wanted him on their side because he was a inexplicably strong. Because he was a third party. Because he was a human. Because he was in the guild. Because he had close ties to Olistia. Because he wasn’t from this place…

 

Because, somehow, someway…he was special. Because he was the ‘Hero of Arceus’.

 

And he never had a choice in any of this. From the moment Avery woke up in that void, he had no choice.

 

But if they decided he’d make a good Hero of Arceus…

 

“…Is there anything else you want to say to Janus, Jolvia?”

 

Then he’d be the best goddamn Hero of Arceus the world had ever seen.

 

“Avery…?”

 

Jolvia’s eyebrows furrowed as she looked at the Plusle curiously. His tone had changed, like everything had…switched. Slowly, she shook her head, standing up.

 

“I’m sorry things ended up this way, Avery.” She said, folding her arms. “Worlds unjust and unfair don’t deserve the sweet and the kindly…”

 

She sighed, glancing at the dark cell.

 

“So…what will you do now?” She asked, genuinely asked. Jolvia’s voice carried a promise…a promise to help if he decided he’d had enough and wanted to run.

 

“…I…I’m…”

 

‘Deep…deep breaths.’

 

He needed to calm down. He needed to get himself back under control.

 

His fists clenched.

 

“…I was invited to a bar.”

 

Jolvia seemed to…jolt, hearing that. She frowned deeply, her crimson eyes taking a concerned glint to them.

 

She knew what he meant.

 

“Alright…” She said, backing off to let Avery stand. There was a sigh in her voice, a deeply…sad one. She cast a final glance to Janus’s cell.

 

“But…if you need any help…you know where to find us.”

 

Avery wiped at his eyes one more time.

 

‘Deep breath.’

 

And he turned to look up at Jolvia…and smiled. It was a small one. But it was there.

 

“…We’ll be fine, Jolvia. I promise.”

 

‘Nobody was going to hang. Nobody.’

 

Jolvia stared at him a while. Her eyes were sad, listening to him, a glint in her eyes as though her heart was breaking with every word.

 

She didn’t look convinced.

 

All the same, she only said two words.

 

“…very well.”

 

And nothing more. She only stepped forward, past Avery, back toward the entrance of the dungeon…back outside of the dark and miserable dungeon.

 

Avery’s smile…faltered at that. He’d…hoped that would comfort her. But she didn’t believe him, it was clear. She thought he was naive. Same with Janus. Same with everyone.

 

And for a moment, his faith was shaken. For a moment, that vision of the gallows filled his head.

 

…But he couldn’t accept that. He wouldn’t. If they wanted him to be a revolutionary hero…

 

…

 

He had to do this.

 

“…Everything will be okay. Everything…is going to be okay.”

 

Avery was trying to convince Janus as much as he was trying to convince himself.

 

…And with that…he exited the dungeon. Back out into the golden world of Arceliaze.

 

No rest. Never rest.

 

It didn’t take long. Before Avery even knew it, the dungeon was at his back, going under the portcullis and onto the streets.

 

It was raining. Rivulets of rainwater flowed down stone gutters, trickled from rooftops, pooled in the street. The canal rushed with raised water. The sky rumbled ominously, and the world was so…dark and cold around him.

 

Jolvia was already gone. Disappeared to wherever it was she had meant to go, leaving Avery to the bar.

 

…A little voice in the back of his head asked him if he’d just lost Jolvia as a friend. But…he couldn’t believe that either. He was going to save Jolvia.

 

He was going to save everyone.

 

That’s what he was supposed to do, right? No rest. Never rest. Never ever rest. If he couldn’t have friends…then he’d have to make them. He’d have to make a world where he could have them.

 

Or something. What was he even saying? This was all grandiose gibberish. Stop thinking so much. Go to the bar. Figure out what to do.

 

Everything would be okay.

 

Avery just kept focused on that, the bar. Came away from that dark place, left it behind.

 

This city was surely unhealthy.

 

Avery’s paws splashed in puddles and waded through flowing water as he made his way across the district, toward the bar he had been told to meet the others at.

 

Would they still be there…? Would it be empty?

 

Would they just be

 

gone?

 

Gone.

 

Gone.

 

A peel of lightning streaked across the sky, the world flashing bright for a moment, the rain like a haze.

 

Avery’s pace picked up. His pulse increased. A spike of fear settled in his throat, one that had no reason to be there. But he pushed it down. It’d be fine. It’d all be fine. He’d go to this bar, and…and…

 

He was soaked.

 

Water was splashing up from the deepening puddles, water trickling down his fur, choking, spluttering, drowning through a dizzying, dark, suffocating city. A maze of buildings stretching on and on and on and on and on

 

a FLASH of lightning. The ground SHOOK with thunder. Old buildings creaked. The world blurry behind Avery’s soaked eyes.

 

And there, ahead…light…light…

 

On a hill, on a steep incline. The gutters on either side ROARED with gushing water that flowed into thundering canals.

 

Light up on the hill. The bar.

 

But would they be gone. Vanished. Never seen again. No chance to say goodnight. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye.

 

He trudged and struggled up the hill, panting, panicking silently as the world screamed in his ears until he saw…

 

 

A bar. In heavy rain, a bar. The puddles were nonexistent here, all the water diverted down the hill. The tables rattled in the wind, flags and curtains flapping.

 

The friendly colors and golden trimmings seemed washed out in the hazy lantern light.

 

Nobody was outside…

 

But…

 

There were voices. Inside the bar, through the arch and past the pillar Avery heard…

 

…laughter.

 

There was still time…still some precious time.

 

Avery skidded to a stop in front of the bar, catching his breath as he ground to a halt. He was soaked, and…a mess. He tried to keep himself calm, tried to keep his fears down. But-

 

Everyone would be there, right? Everyone would…they wouldn’t be gone.

 

They wouldn’t be…there’s no way they’d…

 

The warmth spilled out onto Avery, the rush of air chilling his wet fur, dripping upon the tile as he walked inside.

 

Everything was so blurry…it was so hard to see.

 

Even after wiping his eyes it was hard to see but…

 

…he couldn’t see them.

 

He couldn’t hear them,

 

they were gone

 

they weren’t here

 

they all left

 

they-

Chapter 28.1

~

Rift

~

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

================   S U S P E N D E D  =================

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++